Portland Trip- Day 3

Day 3- The last day in Portland... the grayest and wettest day we were there, but still not too bad.

We decided to eat breakfast at the hotel Saturday morning. It had plenty of variety, and it was kind of like eating on a cruise, in that you could just walk right up and get what ever you wanted and pretty much how much you wanted, and go back for more. We got our fill on.

Then we went to VooDoo Doughnuts for the last time. We got probably 5 or 6 doughnuts, and I bought a hat. We ate a couple right then, and saved the rest for eating throughout the day.

Or morning activity was to find the "Saturday Market". It's a street market similar to a farmer's market, except the vendors are all artists and crafters, selling their work. The lady in blue said it was a very "Portland" thing, and we shouldn't miss it. I looked it up online the night before and got an address, but the address didn't lead us to anything that looked like a street market. We knew it was in the China Town area, so we kept driving around. Finally, there is was. A large sea of white ez-up booths all together.

We looked around the isles and at the booths for quite a while. Lots of cool stuff. Anna found a knit hat she liked (she'd been wearing the one I bought for me on Thursday). I also found a faux coon-skin hat that fit my huge dome that I'll happily wear at the next scout Mountain Man Rendezvous. Oh yeah, I should say that we bought those at the neighboring market that had more commercially made items.

As you can see, or rather not see, is there are no pictures from these activities. Don't really know why, but we just didn't take any.

After the Saturday Market we headed out to find our lunch spot for the day- Stanich's. I had seen that name on a search for Portland's best burger, but due to some of the reviews I saw, didn't think we'd make it a priority. The lady in blue said it was pretty good, so we put it on our list for today. The place was pretty blah, as far as decor. The whole place was wall to wall old pennants from colleges and other schools. It must be a big college sports watching location. Anyway, the drink only came with one refill, and the only diet drink was Diet Rite, blech. The burger it self wasn't too bad. Maybe if we hadn't already had the awesome burgers from the days before, we would have liked it better. They weren't bad, but not great either. We were still quite full from the morning, this kept us at full.

After that, we headed out to find the Portland Temple... look, pictures...
The Moroni is cut off, but I like us better in this shot than in the one that doesn't cut off the Moroni.

We wanted a picture of us with the temple, so I used the self timer on the camera. This is the forth attempt. I used the 10 second mode, but where Anna was standing (on the other side of a reflection pool), I had to quickly sprint (as reverently as possible) over to where she was. It looks like she's pushing me away, but she's getting her arm ready to go around me. I still like it though.

There was a really pretty red and orange leaved tree by the temple, so here is my attempt at an artsy photo. Meh... not too bad.

Anna thought to pick up some of the small leaves to take home to the kids. Unfortunately, they were crushed in her jacket later that day.

We also stopped in at a shopping center to walk off some of our breakfast, doughnuts, and lunch, but we didn't have much time. We needed to start making our way back to the airport.

Along the way, a little sign on the side of the road mentioned a food cart lot, and that reminded me that I wanted to find a specific food cart that had the best ice cream in Portland. We were short on time, but decided to try and find it. We had a small error in the first address we punched, and that took some time to figure out. But eventually we were back on track, and found it...

The signature flavor is a salted caramel. All we had time for was to walk up, ask for two cones of the salted caramel, and we had to be on our way. I really liked the ice cream. Anna thought it was good, but not really worth having again.

We made our way to the airport. We had to return our car, which was pretty quick and painless. We needed to get our flight passes. That went pretty quickly at the automated stand. We got to our gate, and had time to sit and chill for a while before getting on the plane.


Here's the shot from the window in our row. We had even saved a couple doughnuts to have on the flight. They were still so good!

We only waited a few minutes before Anna's dad picked us up. We were on the way to see the kids!

We had a blast! What a fun trip. We would love to take the kids up there sometime. We've driven to Idaho and Wyoming before, so why not the pacific north west the next time!

Could sure go for a Voo Doo Doughnut right about now...

Portland Trip- Day 2 (Seattle!)

Day 2 of our Portland trip took place mainly in Seattle, but it started in Portland...

One of my favorite "food" shows to watch is "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives", so I searched the episodes for Portland. One place he went to was called "Pine State Biscuits". The food looked really good, so I put it on our list. Since biscuits is the main theme of the place, it was going to be our breakfast stop for morning number two. Of course I'm talking about second breakfast, because we ate a little bit of breakfast at the hotel. (I should say I ate a little, Anna had a medium breakfast at the hotel.) Here a youtube link to see what I'm talking about.

I had the Reggie, and Anna had the double down Moneyball. If I would have remembered about the stewed apples, I think I would have gotten that too. The Biscuits were awesome. We both agreed the Reggie was the better of the two. It's a tiny little place, but steadily busy.


After Pine State, we headed off to breakfast #3... more Voo Doo Doughnuts! This time we went to the second location, the pink building! This is where Anna went last year to have doughnuts. We like this location better. Shorter line, parking, and more room inside.

Unfortunately, we forgot to take pictures of the doughnuts we bought. We remembered to take one of the bacon maple bar though.

After doughnuts, (we only ate a couple, then saved the rest to eat throughout the day. Plus, we were stuffed!) we headed off to Seattle! About a 3 hour drive to the Space Needle. We would have gotten there sooner, except the speed limit for about 80% of the drive was only 60, and I didn't need to get a ticket, so I kept it pretty close to that the whole way. There were a couple of spots where it changed to 70, but only for a short time. Anyhow, we had the iPod going, and before we knew it, we were in Seattle!

Here we are at the top of the Space Needle. I think that's north east behind us.

We walked around the outside of the top a few times, looked though the telescopes and binoculars up there, and took pictures. There were also some interactive displays inside that explained the features of Seattle from the view of the Space Needle. On one such display we came across the Pike Place Market, and knew right away, that was the next place we would visit.

Just as we were about to leave, Anna heard a bartender pointing out the peak of Mt. Rainier. It was a bit hazy looking out that far, but we could just make it out. This is a picture of it, but it's tougher to pick it out in the photo.

When we were at the top of the Needle, we could see a kids play area below. When we came down, we went around to check it out. Here's Anna standing in the middle of one of the painted puzzle paths.

Before we drove off, we took a couple pictures of us in front of the Space Needle. There weren't a lot of people around to take our picture together, plus I'm just not big on disturbing people to ask them for a photo. But now I kind of wish we would have asked someone to take one of us together.

While interacting with the computer display at the Needle, not only did it mention the Pike Place Market, it pointed out a couple of points of interest at the market. One of them being this big brass pig bank named Rachel. It's the unofficial mascot of the market.

Another point of interest at the market is "gum alley". It's an area of the market where people have been sticking their gum on the wall for who knows how long. It's in an alley down from the main level. Anna was super jazzed to check it out. It's pretty gnarly. (btw- I'm touching the one I added.)

That's Anna's second gum to add. I think she left the bubble in it when she stuck it on.

Here's Anna standing by the Pike Place fish market stand. This is where they throw the fish people order to the guys who will ready it to take home. Right next to Anna is a huge Cod fish head. It's tied to a rope hidden in the ice. When people get close to it, and worker will pull the rope and freak out the near by person. It's pretty effective.

We got to the market in the later afternoon, and a lot of vendors pack up at about 5:30 and close at 6pm. That was our cue to start heading out. But before we left, we needed a couple more pictures. Here we are with the big sign at the corner of Pike Pl. and Pike St..

We needed to use the restroom before we drove off. I noticed that the entry ways had the male and female chromosome signs and pointed it out to Anna, who then needed a picture...

At one end of the market, there was this sign, so we asked some one to take our picture there. I think it's a pretty good shot.

On a side note, the weather in Seattle was great. The high was around 50 and there wasn't any rain. You can see in some of the Space Needle pictures that we had clear blue skies. The temperature dropped a little at night, but not too much.

We hadn't had any lunch really, because we were eating our doughnuts throughout the the day, but by the time we were leaving the market, we were a little hungry. But hungry or not, we were going to be eating at "Red Mill Burgers". They were featured in the Seattle Man vs. Food episode, and they've been voted best burger in Seattle for almost 10 years. There's only two locations. Here's the MvF clip. Red Mill part starts at 1:22. I'm sitting in the stall near the window.

Here's Anna out front after we finished eating.

Seriously, the food was awesome! We split a double bacon deluxe with cheese, and a chicken club burger, with a side of onion rings and fries. They were both excellent, but the chicken sandwich was particularly great. I could sure use a burger from there right now!


After eating, we had to go find the temple. It was tricky to find, but that was because our GPS kept wigging out on us. Eventually we made it. It was pretty big. A couple of missionaries were out front, and one took a picture for us. You can barely see us. After that we headed back to Portland.

Another fun filled day. The drive home wasn't too bad. It seemed shorter heading back. We had originally planned on eating again when we got back to the hotel because there was a Buffalo Wild Wings right next door. Literally. There was also a frozen yogurt place in the shopping area the the hotel was a part of, so we went by to check it out. We figured it would be closed since it was about 11:15 pm, but it was open! It didn't close till midnight. There were probably 10 other people in there. We decided to give it a try. They had about 8 flavors to choose from, but of those choices, one was a chocolate custard, and another was a sorbet. They also had shakes and blizzard type items to buy. It was pretty good, but there was definitely no room for wings.

We got to our room a little before midnight. We were tired and full. But is was a good tired and full.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that sometime during the morning, we headed back to Walmart to return the poncho, trail mix and rain suit.

Day 3 was only a morning away...

Our Portland Trip- Day 1

Anna and I had a great trip to Portland over the Veteran's Day weekend.

After the kids got out of school Wednesday, we loaded the van and headed to Pasadena, where the kids would be staying at Grandma and Grandpa McAlister's house till Saturday. Our flight was later that night. We got to Grandma's, we all had something to eat, and Anna's dad took us to LAX. Our flight was at 9:05pm, and we landed in Portland at 11:35pm.

After getting off the plane, we made our way to the car rental area. I had reserved a car for Thursday morning. The original plan was to take a shuttle to our hotel once we landed, and come back to pick up the rental in the morning, so we wouldn't have to pay for the extra "day" (Wed.). But then it occurred to me that if we waited till just after midnight to pick-up/rent the car, it should not change the price I reserved for the rental. We would just be picking it up early. The lady at the Budget car rental counter was very cool, and it was no problem to pick up the car early. Soooo glad.

We used our new GPS to find our way to our hotel. The door was locked. They had to "buzz" us in. We checked in without any problem. No mention of us being Priceline guests or the steal we were getting on our room.

We stayed at the Hyatt Place Portland Airport hotel. I got our room for $38 a night via Priceline's name your price option. Online it was about $129 a night. Anna overheard someone checking in at $150 a night. Here's our room...
It was HUGE! This picture doesn't give it justice. It's probably the nicest room we've ever stayed in.


A big part of our trip was centered on food! (No surprise there.) The first spot on our list was a place called the "Stepping Stone Cafe". We learned about it from Man vs. Food. It was one of his "stops" before his challenge. You can check it out here.

I knew I was going to get the bad a$$ omlette. Anna got a pumpkin man cake. We split them, of course. They were AWESOME! SO GOOD!

Here Anna uses the utensils for scale on her man cake.

Right after that, we headed out for some more breakfast... VooDoo Doughnuts!! This is the original location in the downtown area. We were surprised at the length of the line. We were told the line is never gone. It may be slightly shorter or longer, but pretty much always there. VooDoo is 24/7.

We waited in line for about 40 min. or so just to get in the door. Once inside, it was about 5-10 minutes. I stopped keeping track once we were inside.

While in line, we struck up a conversation with the lady in front of us (she's the one in the blue jacket in the picture). She was there with her daughter. They're from Portland, but it was their first time at Voo Doo. During our conversation, we asked what things we should see while in town. She had some great info. Japanese gardens, rose gardens, Saturday Market, where to get a good burger, and so on. We are so glad we asked her. She pretty much made our plans.



Here are our first doughnuts- top: Mango Tango? raised donut with tang on top, and mango jelly filled (very good) right: Old Dirty B*stard- raised donut, dipped in chocolate, covered in oreo cookie pieces with drizzled chocolate and peanut butter on top (SUPER good), bottom: Memphis Mafia- fritter with banana cream, chocolate and peanut butter drizzled on top with chopped peanuts (very good), left: VooDoo donut- raised donut, dipped in chocolate, raspberry jelly filled. (very good)

Anna loves that Portland has drinking fountains that are always running so you don't have to push a button or lever to get a drink. This is across the street from VDD.

There's a "china town" district right near the VDD, so after eating a couple doughnuts, we took a walk through it. It's pretty run down, but there were some pretty cool shops to go into and look around. On the way back to our car, Anna wanted a picture with the sign and door of VDD.

One thing Anna had on her Portland "must do" list, was to take me to go see the core sample at the MAX station by the zoo. We navigated our way to that station, where we checked out the core sample. Along the wall where the sample is, there are also quotes and puzzles and math related items. I saw this and asked Anna to take my picture... get it?...

Anna thought I was so cool... so she wanted a picture too.

Remember I said that the lady in blue planned our trip... Here we are at the Japanese Garden. It was a beautiful place. The misty rain added to the tranquility.

We could juuust make out the outline of the downtown buildings. The camera couldn't quite pick them up. It just gives you an idea of what the weather was like while we were there. Speaking of weather, I think the highest it ever got in Portland, while we were there was 49-50?

As we were exiting the Japanese gardens, there was this big RED leaved tree. Other than the tip of my umbrella, it's a pretty nice shot.

We also walked around the Rose Garden area, but I guess most of the roses were cut back for the season. There were still some flowers, but it was not as nice as the Japanese Garden.

We didn't really have any lunch Thursday. We ate a doughnut just about every time we got in the car.

In the afternoon, we went to Walmart to pick up some things for our next day at Mt. St. Helens- water, trail mix, lunch bags (to stick hotel continental breakfast items in to take with us for lunch), a rain poncho for me, and whole rain suit for Anna, and some sodas for the drive, etc. We also went to a Target so I could buy a "Portland" beanie (I don't know the real name).

There was a new frozen yogurt shop near the Walmart (it said Grand Opening), and since we were a little hungry, we stopped in. They had 16 flavors! Anna, of course, tried them all- and we're not talking small tastes. Later she told me, she was done after trying them all, but felt that she had to buy some so she would feel guilty. She was FULL. I tried about half. It was really good.

We drove around a bit. The GPS wasn't finding what we wanted it to find from just punching in the names of the locations we wanted. We needed addresses. There were computers at the hotel we could use. So we started back, but not before stopping to get some real food. We went to a burger place Anna remembered from her trip last year. It's called Burgerville. It was pretty good, but nothing too special. Anna liked that they had compost and recycling bins next to the trash bin.

Once back at the hotel, I started looking up the addresses of the other places we wanted to see and visit. I searched for the burger place the lady in blue mentioned. Then I stared looking up Mt. St. Helens information, for our trip the next day. As I began locating that info, I realise that Mt. St. Helens is closed for the season?! It's open from May to October. The roads were already snowed over, and all the visitor's centers were closed till May. I broke the news to Anna. She was bummed. We looked at possibly driving out to Crater Lake, but it was 5-6 hours one way. After doing some quick research, there was snow at Crater Lake, and 4x4 vehicles were recommended. Our little Ford Focus was not a 4x4.

Then the thought of going to Seattle popped up (the lady in blue had mentioned Seattle in our conversation). Turned out to be about a 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive... not too bad. I did a quick search of places to visit and eat (Man vs. Food and Diners Drive-ins and Dives). It all sounded good, so we decided to drive to Seattle the next day.

We drank some horrible hot cocoa given to us by the lobby hostess, and called it a night.